Envelope opener



M. c. SHELTON 2,748,478

ENVELOPE OPENER June 5, 1956 Filed March 26, 1952 INVENTOR.

MAL COLM C. SHEL TON W/FM A TTORNEY United States Patent Oce 2,748,478 Patented June 5,, 1956 ENVELOPE OPENER Malcolm C. Shelton, Kansas City, Mo.

Application March 26, 1952', Serial No. 278,562

2' Claims. (Cl. 30-489.).

My invention relates to envelope openers, and more particularly to an envelope opener that utilizes a razor blade for cutting open the marginal edge portion of an envelope.

It is the principal purpose. of my invention to provide an envelope opener that is in the form of a small hand tool that can be easily manipulated to cut away a very narrow strip along one marginal edge portion of the envelope so that the same will be cut open, said envelope opener being provided with a guideway into which the edge of the envelope that is to be opened is inserted, and after such insertion said envelope opener is drawn across the envelope adjacent said edge thereof to cut olf the narrow strip at that margin of the envelope to open the same.

it is an important purpose of my invention to provide a mounting for a razor blade in the envelope opener, the cutting edge of the razor blade being used for cutting away the marginal or edge strip portion. of the envelope as above referred to, said mounting being of such a character that the cutting edge of the blade extends obliquely across the guideway for the. edge of the envelope so as to be in position to effetcively cut off said marginal strip portion.

It is a further important purpose of my invention to provide a mounting for a razor blade in an envelope opener of the above mentioned character that is of such a character that the strip that is out off from the marginal edge portion of the envelope will be discharged from the envelope opener readily and will not in any manner interfere with the cutting operation of the blade in severing the narrow marginal edge portion of the envelope from the remainder thereof, this being accomplished by providing a mounting for the razor blade such that it extends in an inclined position relative to the guideway and across the same andinto a slot that is provided in a wall of the guideway, which slot opens out through a marginal edge portion of the envelope opener so as to provide for the ready discharge of the cut off strip above referred to.

It is a further specific purpose of my invention to provide a mounting for a razor blade in an envelope opener of the above mentioned character that firmly clamps the razor blade in fixed position in the envelope opener with the same spaced from the edges of the above referred to slot, this being accomplished by providing a clamping member that engages wedgingly with wedging portions on the body portion of the envelope opener for firmly clamping the blade clamping member to the body portion to the device, with the blade clamped between the clamping member and body portion.

Other objects and' advantages of my invention will ap pear as the description of the drawings proceeds. I desire. to have it understood, however, that I do not intend to limit myself to the particular details shown or described, except as defined in the claims.

in the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of my improved envelope opener.

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof looking from the right hand end of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is atop plan view thereof.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of my improved envelope opener.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4'.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my improved envelope opener comprises a body'portion having a main vertically extending portion 7 and a horizontally extending portion 8, said horizontally extending portion 8 being provided with gripping means 9 thereon, which may be in the form of a roughened portion, which is formed by providing a plurality of parallel narrow grooves in the portion 8, as will be obvious from Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 6. The portion 8 or" the envelope opener serves as a base and as holding means for the same when it is in use, it being held in the hand when being used. The body portion of the device also has a flange 10 extending laterally therefrom opposite the horizontally extending or flange portion 8, said flange it having a flat top face 11'. The body portion of the envelope opener also has a groove 12 therein extending lengthwise thereof that has a fiat bottom wall 33, said groove lying between the top wall 11 of the flange 1d and a shoulder 14 on the upstanding body portion 7.

The upstanding portion 7 has a relatively low extension 15' thereon and said extension terminates in a rounding end 16. The shoulder 14 extends from the rounding end it; to the opposite end 17 of the body portion of the envelope opener, as does the guideway or guide groove 12. The flange it also extends from the rounding end 16 to the opposite end 17 thereof, and thus the flat top face 11 thereof extends from one end or edge of the body portion to the opposite end of edge of said body portion. The horizontally extending portion 8, it will be noted, has a curved marginal edge 13, which extends from the end 16 to near the end 17 of the body portion, but ends short thereof, as will be obvious from Figs. 3 and 5. The upstanding body portion 7 has marginal end edges 19 and 20 that extend transversely to the longitudinal axis thereof and at an oblique angle to the horizontally extending portion 8 and the guideway 12, includingupwardly and backwardly toward the end 17 of the body portion. Reduced obliquely extending portions 21 and 22 tapering in thickness, lie outwardly beyond the obliquely extending edges 19 and 2d at opposite ends of the upstanding body portion 7. Said reduced portions 21 and 22 form obliquely extending flanges on said upstanding body portion extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of said body portion at opposite ends thereof and decreasing in thickness toward the ends of said flanges that are remote from the base portion 8. Said flanges 21 and 22 taper upwardly in thickness having inclined faces 23 thereon, as shown for the flange 21 in Fig. 6. Both flanges 21 and 22 are. similarly shaped. Also projecting from said body portion on the same side thereof as the guideway 12 are a pair of projections or protuberances 24', these lying on an axis perpendicular to the inclined edges 19 and 20 and serving as blade mounting means.

The blade 25, which is in the form of a double edged razor blade having the cutting edges 26 on opposite sides thereof, is mounted on the projections 24, there being suitable openings in said blade for the projections. Any type of razor blade that is capable of being mounted on projections, such as the projections. 24, may be used in the device, as these are of a standardized size so that the same will function to dothe cutting in the manner to be described below. When the blade 25 is mounted in position it is in engagement with the flat face 27 of the body portion 7 and mounted in position on the projections 24 with the projections extending through openings in the blade 25 that receive the same, as will be obvious from Fig. 5, and with a portion of said razor blade extending below the shoulder 14 and across the guideway 12 at an oblique angle, said cutting edge intersecting said guideway at an oblique angle near that end thereof at the end 17 of the body portion of the envelope opener.

A corner 28 of said blade extends into a slot 29 in the flange portion 10 of the body portion of the device, said slot 29 opening out through the end 17 of the body portion at 30 and having the curved end 31 located in spaced relation to the cutting edge of the razor blade. It will be noted that the blade 25 is spaced from the side walls 32 and 33 of the slot, the side wall 33 of the slot being coplanar with the bottom or vertical wall 13 of the guideway 12. Said blade 25, it will also be noted, is nearer the vertical wall 32 of the slot 29 than it is to said vertical wall 33. This is desirable to provide a wide opening through the end of the body portion at the open end 30 of the slot, so that the cut off strip from the envelope will not clog the slot and thus interfere with the proper operation of the cutting edge 26 of the blade.

In order to assure that the blade is properly mounted inposition on the body portion and clamped firmly in such position with the blade properly located in the slot 29, a blade clamping member 34 is provided, that is slidably mounted on the body portion 7. Said blade clamping member has a plate-like body portion 35, which is provided with a pair of parallel grooves 36 that are adapted to receive the projections 24 when the blade clamping member 34 is moved into blade clamping position, the flat face 37 of said blade clamping member engaging one face of the blade to clamp it between said flat face 37 and the flat face 27 on the body portion 7. Said blade clamping member has flanges 38 thereon at opposite ends thereof extending transversely to the longi-' slidably engaging one upon the other to clamp the blade 25 between the faces 37 and 27, as will be obvious from Fig. 5, as said blade clamping member 34 is slid downwardly on the body portion 7 toward the guideway 12.

When the parts are in their final position the bottom obliquely extending edge 41 of the clamping member 34 is in alignment with the shoulder 14 and forms a continuation thereof. Said edge 41 is rounded, as will be obvious from Fig. 5, there being also a rounded edge 42 at the top of the blade clamping member 34, and rounded edges 43 and 44 at the longitudinal margins of the horizontally extending portion 8 and flange 10, all corners of'the parts being preferably rounded, as will be obvious from the drawings, except where flat faces are necessary for clamping or guiding purposes.

In the operation of my improved envelope opener, the envelope opener is grasped 'in the hand with the thumb on the horizontally extending portion 8, preferably resting on the roughened portion 9. The envelope is put with the margin that is to be cut or opened into the guideway with the edge of said margin in position against the vertical bottom wall 13 of the guideway. Thus the envelope is in position with the edge of the marginal portion that is to be cut off in flat engagement with the wall 13 and is guided between the wall 11 and the shoulder 14 so that it will be guided into proper engagement with the obliquely extending cutting edge 26 of the blade where it traverses the guideway 12. The movement of the blade into 'engagement with the edge that is to be cut off is accomplished by moving the envelope opener from left to right, as viewed in Fig. 1, over the envelope, with the envelope edge in the guideway 12 so that the cutting edge 26 of the blade will cut or slice off the marginal edge portion of the envelope, cutting off a narrow strip, which will pass into the slot 29 and out through the open end 30 thereof as the cutting progresses, the envelope thus being opened by drawing the opener completely across the marginal edge thereof that is to be opened, with the envelope at said marginal edge in the guideway 12.

The blade will be held firmly in fixed position by the blade clamping member 34 and the wedging faces 27 and 40 serve not only to hold the blade firmly clamped in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 5, but also serve to frictionally hold the clamping member in position on the body portion, a slight tug thereon away from the member 8 and the flange 11 being necessary to disengage the same when it is desired to change blades.

What I claim is:

1. In an envelope opener, a body portion having a flat blade engaging surface, means for mounting a blade in said body portion comprising blade mounting projections on said body portion, a blade clamping member slidably engaging said body portion, and a blade mounted on said projections, said body portion and said clamping member having slidably interengaging flanges thereon at the ends thereof extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of said body portion, the flanges on said body portion and blade clamping member having complemental oppositely inclined wedging surfaces thereon extending longitudinally of said flanges and slidably engaging upon one another to clamp said clamping member with respect to said body portion and clamp said blade in fixed position between said body portion and clamping member, said body portion having a guideway extending lengthwise thereof and said blade having a cutting edge extending obliquely across said guideway.

2. In an envelope opener, a body portion having a flat blade engaging surface, means for mounting a blade in said body portion comprising a pair of blade mounting projections on one face of said body portion, a blade mounted on said projections, a blade clamping member slidably engaging said body portion, said blade clamping member having guide flanges at opposite ends thereof having inwardly directed overhanging flanges thereon, said body portion having flanges thereon at opposite ends thereof, the flanges on said body portion and clamping member extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of said body portion, said flanges on said body portion and said inwardly directed flanges on said clamping member having oppositely inclined wedging surfaces thereon slidably engaging upon one another to clamp said blade between said body portion and clamping member, said body portion having a guideway in said face thereof extending between opposite marginal end edges thereof at an oblique angle to said flanges thereon and said blade having a cutting edge extending obliquely across said guideway adjacent one end thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,740,018 Jansen Dec. 17, 1929 1,943,193 Stephen et al. Jan. 9, 1934 2,247,719 Van Unen July 1, 1941 2,291,294 Holste July 28, 1942 a FOREIGN PATENTS 603,942 Great Britain June 25, 1948 

